BLACKPINK 2018 Update: Lotte Cited 'Safety Reason' For Interrupting Korean Girl Group's Performance At Lotte Duty Free Family Festival

Lotte Duty Free had formally issued an apology to BLACKPINK following fans' outrage when the girls were ushered off the stage while in the middle of a performance. The company explained that they had to interrupt the K-pop's performance due to a safety reason.

Lotte Duty Free is under fire after it cut off BLACKPINK while performing at the Lotte Duty Free Family Festival on Friday. The four-piece band performed at the opening of the festival at Seoul Olympic Stadium.

Apparently, the quartet was scheduled to play four songs. They sang "As If It's Your Last" and "Stay" but were interrupted in the middle of their third song for the night, "Forever Young." A staff member went on stage and escorted the girls out from the stage.

The event organizers reportedly decided to cut BLACKPINK's performance short due to technical issues. Although the announcer said the group would return to finish their set, Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa never did. This angered BLACKPINK fans, who call themselves the BLINKs. Many took to social media to express their disappointment. Many called the event a "mess."

"This is not how you run an event. You just don't cut the performers, even stop the music and escort BLACKPINK off the stage. Lotte, you could've done better. YG will not be impressed. This is disrespectful to BLINKs," one fan wrote along with several furious emojis.

"We are extending our sincere apologies for the temporary interruption happened during BLACKPINK's opening performance ... Family Festival Management decided that the safety of the audience is the top priority and thus, the performance has been interrupted during BLACKPINK's third song, 'Forever Young'. Hence, BLACKPINK has been unable to resume to perform the succeeding scheduled stages and unfortunately had to leave the concert," the company said in its apology statement.

Many of the fans commented on Lotte's post on Instagram. Some claimed that they felt tricked, stressing that they paid to watch BLACKPINK's performance. They, however, did not even hear the group perform "DDU-DU DDU-DU," the lead track from the band's latest EP titled Square Up.

As for BLACKPINK, the girls have tried to diffuse their fans' anger by offering them a treat. Cups of "DDU-DU DDU-DU Ice Cream" were handed out to fans who came to see the group's recording for MBC's Show! Music Core. Many netizens lauded the group's gestures, saying BLACKPINK don't need to apologize as the stage debacle wasn't their fault.

Meanwhile, the girls have some good news following the unfortunate incident at the Lotte Duty Free Family Festival. Their latest single "DU-DU DDU-DU" has reached 100 million views on YouTube, making BLACKPINK the fastest K-pop girl group to achieve such feat. BLACKPINK smashed the record previously held by "Likey" of TWICE.

The single also earlier debuted at No. 17 on the Official Trending Chart in the United Kingdom. This also makes them BLACKPINK the first female K-pop group to enter the chart.

 . Hello, this is LOTTE DUTY FREE Family Festival Management. We are extending our sincere apologies for the temporary interruption happened during BLACKPINK'S opening performance at 7:30 PM in LOTTE DUTY FREE Family Festival Management on June 22nd. Family Festival Management decided that the safety of the audience is the top priority and thus, the performance has been interrupted during BLACKPINK’s third song, ‘Forever Young’. Hence, BLACKPINK has been unable to resume to perform the succeeding scheduled stages and unfortunately had to leave the concert. The management would like to apologize once again to BLACKPINK, BLACKPINK fans and to all audiences and thank you for your valuable time in visiting our concert yesterday in spite of the hot weather. We will put our best efforts to make today’s concert better. June 23, 2018 LOTTE DUTY FREE Family Festival Management . 안녕하세요 롯데면세점 패밀리콘서트 운영사무국입니다 . 6/22(금) 패밀리콘서트 '블랙핑크'의 7시 30분 오프닝 공연 중, 관객 안전상의 이유로 공연이 일시적으로 중단 된 상황에 대해 깊은 사과의 말씀을 드립니다 . 저희 운영사무국은 공연을 보시기 위해 입장하는 관객 여러분의 안전이 최우선이라 판단하였고, '블랙핑크'의 세 번째 곡 'Forever Young'의 무대 중, 시급히 중단하게 되었습니다 . 이후 '블랙핑크'는 예정된 스케줄로 재개된 무대에 오를 수 없게 되었고, 아쉽지만 패밀리콘서트 현장을 떠날 수밖에 없었습니다 . 이에 저희 운영사무국은 더운 날씨에도 불구하고 소중한 시간을 내어 공연을 관람하기 위해 찾아주신 많은 관객 여러분들과 블랙핑크의 팬분들, 무대를 준비해준 블랙핑크에게 다시 한번 사과의 말씀을 전하며, 금일 진행되는 패밀리콘서트 2일 차 공연에서는 더욱더 좋은 공연이 될 수 있도록 세심하게 준비하도록 하겠습니다 . 여러분들의 많은 조언과 관심 감사드립니다 감사합니다. . 2018년 6월 23일 롯데면세점 패밀리콘서트 운영사무국 A post shared by  롯데면세점 (@lottedutyfree) on Jun 22, 2018 at 1:41am PDT